My Dad Knew Santa

Faint jingling bells could be heard from the other end of the hallway that led to the Bridge Room on the top floor of the Prince Albert Daily Herald.  The room was filled with little kids dressed in their Christmas finery and bursting with excitement.  I was one of those kids and what made it even more special was that my dad actually knew Santa Claus himself.

You see, my dad was the Press Room Foreman at the Daily Herald and co-chaired the Social Club.  He was in charge of organizing the children's Christmas party.  A few days before the big event, Dad would bring presents home, on Mr. Clauses behalf, to hand out to the kids.  They'd be from The Bay and would be wrapped in festive wrapping and bows.  Ice cream cups would be picked up...you know the kind, with those little wooden spoons that even as an adult leave you with a dry taste in your mouth.  The entertainment would be planned, and hamburgers ordered.

There was wild anticipation but there would always be a movie or two.  The movies would be rented from the library and were the real kind of movies using a film projector.  Every year, we'd watch the one about the Maple Leaf hockey sweater.

Then...

"I think I hear Santa coming!" Dad would say and sure enough the Big Man himself would start the jingling and Ho Ho Ho-ing as he entered the room.  Santa would greet the kids and do the customary questions like whether we'd been good or not.  Of course, we'd been good!  Treat bags would be handed out containing bridge mixture, those little foiled bell chocolates and balls and of course candy canes.  The most important would be the gifts because it was always something we really wanted.  One of the last gifts I received was a large plush stuffed pink and white teddy bear.  The kids would rip into their gifts and paper would fly as holiday chaos ensued.  

Santa would make another round of greetings and he'd be gone.

We'd eat our burgers, fries and ice cream.  Families would start leaving and after tidying up the Bridge Room we'd leave for home too.  It was the best afternoon ever.

Hectic Holidays

There's a Christmas mash-up medley that I love to teach called Hectic Holidays.  It's got snippets of every well-known Christmas carol and a few surprises too.  The idea of the song is to mimic what it's like to dash from store to store while Christmas shopping and hearing the songs being played in each store.  It's a great arrangement but not the easiest to pull off.

I was a piano teacher for about 10+ years when we moved and instead of continuing with that career at the time, I chose to work in retail.  If there's anything more fun than shopping for yourself, then its helping other people shop!  I worked for a women's clothing retailer which specialized in sizing from 4-24 and is no long in business.  Before I worked there, I shopped there, and one of the perks was the employee discount and of course you were made to wear the clothing while working.

The holidays were especially crazy and fun to work.  There were lots of specialty items that would be marketed just for season.  The polar fleece sweaters with adorable festive prints were favourites for many.  Wives would come in and set things on hold for their husbands to come do their Christmas shopping later on.  Some poor forlorn husbands would rush in on Christmas Eve expecting to still find the sweater their sweetums saw back in November and we'd have to tell them no, sorry, that's sold out.

The store would hire special staff just for the holiday rush and for the chaos that ensued on Boxing Day.  The change rooms always looked like a bomb went off.  Shauna was our fitting room guru.  I'd never seen someone create such magic in the helping and clearing of the change rooms.  I'm not sure I've even seen it since!  I have some really great memories of that time and sometimes I can still feel what it was like to be in the store at closing time, cleaning and folding in the quiet, and what it sounded like to close the door at the end of the day.

When I'd moved on to management with a different Canadian retailer, the mall held Midnight Madness.  The stores would stay open until midnight, and we'd all have to take turns working a shift once.  I remember one particular time we were lacking energy and maybe for some reason it wasn't that busy at that particular time, so I went down to the Starbucks on break and returned with chocolate covered coffee beans.  Myself and my coworker ate them, and the result was energy alright but also insomnia for the rest of the weekend!

I worked in retail for about 5 years when the fun left and the hours and staff drama started to get to me.  I remember walking into the music school and the director at the time asked, "what's taken you so long?" Teaching was really my calling and I'd gotten several signs that I was indeed meant to return to it.  While that's still true these many years later, I still try to be kind when I'm shopping and even the other day a cashier complimented me for being so patient with her.  I've been on that side of the counter and there's no point getting upset.  It doesn't prove nor solve anything.  If we can't be kind during the holidays then really, when can we be?

I've noticed a real return to non-covid shopping this year.  In my excursions parking lots are once again full and stores are bustling, and the Christmas tunes are flowing.  It's so great to see that maybe Christmas doesn't all come from an Amazon box after all.  If you are out and about doing your holiday shopping, soak in the atmosphere, be kind and thank your frazzled retail workers.

Ye Olde Photo Camera

I was watching the Hallmark movie Haul Out the Holly last week and there was a part of the story where the main character had a Polaroid camera.  It was a flashback to when she was young and took photos of the Christmas celebrations in her town.  It got me to thinking that I also have a Polaroid camera.

It was very late and possibly midnight, but in a fit of nostalgia I dug through the cabinet doors of the hallway built in, to find my Polaroid camera.  There it was in its carrying case as pristine as ever.  I knew there was film left in it because a number of years ago I took it to work with me as part of my tourist Halloween costume.  I stood in the corner in my pajamas and lined up my camera in hopes it might still work and snapped a photo of our Christmas tree.

Nope.  It didn't work.  Well, it did take a photo but because the film cartridge has its own battery power it was likely so old that it just didn't want to work to its potential.  So, the two photos which were left didn't want to pop out nor were pictures visible.

Bummer.

A quick perusal of Amazon, London Drugs, and the Polaroid website told me that yes, indeed you can still buy Polaroid film in a vast array...for $29.99 which I suppose isn't that bad for some thing so retro.  But hold the train, that only buys 8, yes, EIGHT, photos.

Yikes.

I have 1000 photos saved on my iPad alone.

The difference is that besides sharing them on Facebook or Instagram, no one really sees them.  Gone are the days we'd take a roll of film to be developed only to find out weeks later how the pictures turned out.  We'd save them into photo albums and haul them out to show family members and guests.  One of the favorite activities at my In-Laws is to look through old photos and hear the stories connected to them.  I don't remember a Christmas as a little kid at my Grandparents where there wasn't at least one or two pictures resting on the coffee table waiting for the images to appear.  Now we post, share, like and maybe comment before moving on and it's all forgotten.

It's not all bad.  If it weren't for social media helping us to see what is going on in each other's lives I wouldn't get to see my friend who lives in Edmonton on the beach in Mexico.  I wouldn't get to see my Nieces share photos of their little one's meeting Santa.  This last year, when we wanted to gather photos of loved one's remembrance, I dove into the photo albums though.

The last time I had photos printed was in 2019 and at Costco.  Now they don't even have a photo department.  I made my Husband a collage shadow box of our trip to Utah and Nevada for Christmas that year.  It now hangs in our living room.

At work, I take photos of my students and print them myself to post on my classroom wall.  They love to see themselves and others who have completed the same music books they have.

Some of you still take special Christmas family photos for the annual Christmas card.  Are you planning on taking pictures this year?  How will you share them?  Maybe this is the year to set them out on the coffee table for the family to enjoy.

Cookies! (Recipe Included)

 

From "Christmas Cookies" by George Strait

I saw a meme last week that says every recipe blog starts off with how the blogger was out for a wintery walk and it reminded them of tobogganing as a child and yadda yadda yadda and the poster just wanted to hurry up and get to the recipe and who cares about the other stuff.  While I do feel the pain of having to navigate all that nonsense to get to the real information, I think we all want to share our warm fuzzy memories of the season with our readers, family and friends.

There's a Roughrider fan in every crowd!

Some of my fondest Christmas memories are of my Mom and me baking cookies. I remember having to kneel on a kitchen chair at the cupboard and watching with wild anticipation as Mom would roll out the dough and then we'd choose just the exactly right cookie cutters.  I was really blessed to have a childhood which contains sweet memories like these.  I was equally fortunate to have a niece and nephew who I was close to, so when I was older and married, I'd invite them to my house to make cookies.  One year in particular, my niece was sick and couldn't come for cookie decorating so my nephew and I did it but put some aside in a special care package to take to her.  She proclaimed that the Christmas cookies held special healing powers because upon eating them she immediately was feeling better.

Jingling Rider Fan Medicine Woman.

Flash forward to when I became a more enthusiastic Saskatchewan Roughrider fan.  I purchased a set of Wilton Football Themed cookie cutters.  The set includes shapes for pennants, footballs, jerseys and helmets.  I only used the jerseys and helmets pictured below, although the recipe, which is coming up soon, makes enough cookies for the whole neighbourhood and then some so you can use your whole array of cookie cutters.  I do have a very extensive collection from all the obvious Christmas shapes to Snoopy and that cute truck with a tree in the back.  Of course, you may already have your own favourite sugar cookie recipe, or you might not have the time to make it and in that case the cookie dough in the cooler section will do just fine.

Makes 5 dozen cookies

Without dragging it out farther... here is the recipe for Mom's Sugar Cookies.  There aren't any special instructions except throw it all in a mixer to combine.  Form it into a roll, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.  If you don't refrigerate the dough, it will be pretty much disastrous and frustrating as the dough won't be able to be worked with.  Roll out the dough and cut into shapes, football themed or otherwise and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 8 minutes.  I use silicon mats on my baking sheets, so the cookies don't get overly brown and so cleanup is a snap.  One substitution you can make is the butter/shortening.  You can use margarine instead and the recipe still turns out wonderfully.

Once the cookies are completely cooled you can frost them with your favourite method.  Back as a kid we'd just use your regular butter cream homemade frosting with a myriad of sprinkles.  These days because my Hubby calls sprinkles "gravel" I bypass that method.  One year I purchased Cakemate Cookie Icing in various colours and although it didn't turn out to be my favourite product the cookies turned out pretty and tasty.

Go Riders!

Another year, I coated the cookies in white frosting and then used food markers to decorate.  These turned out to be my favourite cookies although the process was very time consuming because the markers had to dry completely, or they'd smudge.  That was also the year, where Hubby didn't know of how I'd toiled over the cookies and a good portion of them had "disappeared" before I'd found out.  

The table display for New Years Eve 2019

Maybe you want to make a batch of these for your favourite Riders fan or just make some sweet memories with some close family members.  I hope this blog was enjoyable to read and if it was, please share it with others on your Christmas list.  Nothing says love like a homemade gift-wrapped stack of sugar cookies shared with your family and friends.

Oh Snap! Looks pretty happy for a guy who just lost a leg!

Christmas Cards

Do you send Christmas cards?

I had stopped for a really long time.  Before that, I was the person who had the letter written in October and had all my cards addressed and stamped to go out in the post December first. We would receive so many cards that we had a specially designed wreath just to display them all. Then over the years, we stopped getting a lot of cards in the mail and friends and family chose to send virtual greetings or not to send at all, so it seemed like there was less meaning in putting in all the time and effort and expense into sending cards.  

One year, I quipped, "sure would be nice to get something in the mail other than flyers and bills." and I even mentioned to Hubby how much joy it brought me to receive something in the mail that was personal and didn't require payment.  He simply responded with, "why don't you give that feeling to other people?"

He was right.  

So, I set out to reform my card list.  That was a chore.  Some people on the list had passed, lot's moved and some had grown up to have families of their own.  Just making sure I wasn't leaving anyone out or spelling names wrong was another adventure.  I had once had a really cool adobe type list where I could add the date and whether I'd sent or received cards.  Surely there must be something similar for this new tech world.  I mean, there must be an app for that right.  Well sort of.  I found an app for my iPad simply called The Christmas Card List.  For me this works perfectly.

I remember being a kid and sitting with my mom at the dining room table as she addressed cards.  There seemed to be an art to choosing just the right design and poem to send to each person. It took what seemed like hours just choosing and writing.  When I was in a store this past weekend, there was a couple picking out Christmas cards.  I overheard their conversation about who they needed cards for as they looked and selected.  It was very sweet.  I tend to buy a box of cards that are all one design so then everyone gets the same card.  That's kind of like wrapping all your gifts with the same paper.

I've done that too.

Sunday night after all the hustle and bustle of the shopping day I sat down with the box of cards and my card list app.  I had bought more than enough Santa stamps and I even had some American stamps left.  Sometimes the thought of the task takes more time than the actual task, but I felt good at the end of it.  It's a part of the season we seem to have forgotten about and it's important to continue to let our loved ones know we are thinking about them. Addressing the cards helped me reminisce about friends and family over this last year, which has been a hard one for not only me, but many others.  Maybe a joyous Christmas card will be winging its way into your happy mailbox soon! 

CFL Advent Calendar

Fridays around here are either for football or flashbacks and sometimes it's both!  I've had a flood of ideas recently and I was thinking about a post I wrote called CFL Subscription Club on ABC Football.  The entire blog is talking about how you can subscribe to all kinds of services to bring you monthly boxes of anything from food to underwear and my argument was why doesn't one exist for the CFL?  Well, since it's Christmas, this got me thinking, (by the time you read this I'll already be into my advent calendars) why doesn't a football, a CFL in particular, advent calendar exist?

Well, likely because no one in marketing has thought of it.

* crickets * - CFL marketing department probably.

Imagine, as Grey Cup hysteria winds down, that you could purchase a CFL advent calendar.  24 days of CFL football items behind little doors of some kind of football themed box.  Hey, I can't have allll the ideas now, can I?  I'm not talking about big ticket items, but I know for a fact that the Roughrider Store has pins, stickers, tattoos, earrings, keychains, Christmas ornaments and likely other small items which would tuck very nicely into a decorative box.  December 1st you scramble over to your CFL advent, peel back the door and reveal...

With my luck it would be a Blue Bomber pin.

Every person who purchased an advent calendar would end up with a nice collection of memorabilia from all 9 CFL teams.  The items could be traded on social media and Facebook groups.  Fans could wear their items to events for the upcoming season. 

"Hey, where did you get that cool Gainer pin?" 

"Oh, it was in my CFL advent calendar!"  

The entire Christmas Countdown calendar would culminate in day 24 where there could be a coupon to be redeemed in team stores!  Then every fan could flock to their local team CFL store on Boxing Day to purchase an item of their wildest dreams.

* sigh *

My little green Roughrider heart swells with the thought of it.  Let's face it, there hasn't been much for us Rider fans to be excited about this last year.  It's too late for this year of course with Christmas already a couple weeks away, but hey, CFL get with it - get with the times.

Something like this could be marketed for the countdown to the 2023 CFL season and debuted during training camp and then the 24th door of the calendar would coincide with the home opening weekends...

...but I'm just the ideas person.  Just a fan.  Just a girl writing little ol blogs - wishing there was something football related to go with her tea and jam Advent Calendars.

Diet is NOT a Christmas Word

Every day on my way to work I pass by a Tim Horton's.  I've noticed a sign advertising a new seasonal promotion but can't quite make out the phrasing.  So today I looked up the slogan online.  "There's Snowplace like Tims"  Cute.  Then I saw some of their holiday items...

Gingerbread Oat Latte 280 calories.

Candy Cane Hot Chocolate 390 calories

Gingerbread Chocolate Dream Donut 480 calories.

Holy smokes Batman.

Don't get me wrong - they look amazing, and you know what?  If you want one, then go for it.

It's coming on December, and this is the season where we are once again gathering and celebrating together.  There may be some pressure to look better than you have in a while.  I mean, during the whole pandemic some of us got a little loosy goosy with our dress codes.  Is Christmas really the time to decide to go on a diet?

No.  Absolutely not.  I am giving you permission to let yourself off the hook this holiday. 

This is the time of year where we bake all the cookies and family favourites and yes, I'm the weirdo scoping out all the shops for the best mince pies and while we are on that subject, why doesn't fruitcake have marzipan on it anymore?  Anyhow, when we're doing and making these things, why on earth would we tell ourselves we shouldn't have one or two?  We love them so much we only have them once a year?

Just because I'm giving myself permission and you as well, doesn't mean we can go hog wild and eat the box of chocolates stashed on the top shelf of the pantry which your husband probably doesn't know about.  What I am saying is that when we associate so many happy memories with food and especially Christmas food why would we not only restrict ourselves but make ourselves feel guilt over it.  The diet industry makes a load of money by telling us we should feel guilty over food, punish ourselves and that we should make resolutions and join whatever fad is happening.  Don't give them that power.

Me, taken December 2019

In case you don't know, and I'm assuming many do not, during the pandemic and summer of 2020 I decided to better myself.  I started with the app MyFitnessPal and recorded all my food choices in an effort to be healthier.  Within a month I'd lost 15 pounds.  When I realized what I was doing was working I wanted to make life long manageable changes, but I also knew that if I told myself I could never eat another cookie or brownie or whatever again then there was no point.  So, I gave myself permission to have those things but only if I stuck to the recommended servings.  So almost every evening since then I've had tea and 2 cookies.  Guess what?  I'm satisfied with those 2 cookies.  To date I've lost just under 90 pounds.

Me, taken November 28 2022

I'm not saying that works for everyone because it doesn't.  Boundaries are also important during this holiday season.  You stuffing yourself with your families cooking doesn't mean you love that family member more or less.  It's okay to say no, thank you.  We joke around about wearing our stretchy pants to Christmas dinner but it's so uncomfortable and many like me end up with bloated stomach aches afterwards too.  I once said something to the effect of, "yes I can let my pants out, but I can't let my stomach out" Everything in moderation but knowing when enough is enough is important too.

So don't start the diet now.  Remove that word from your life.  Who needs that negativity?  Spend the holidays making happy memories and by golly eat the donut and don't give it a second thought.